Copyright 1999 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
March 10, 1999, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: MONEY; Pg. 1B
LENGTH: 439 words
HEADLINE:
CREDIT INSURANCE
BYLINE: Sara Nathan; From staff and
Wire reports
BODY:
Consumers who buy credit
insurance when they take out a loan,
buy a car or get a credit card are
being overcharged by $ 2 billion
a year, Consumers Union and the Center for
Economic Justice charge.
Credit insurance pays a lender if a borrower
becomes disabled
or dies. The consumer groups blamed state insurance
regulators
for what they said is lax supervision.
PATHMARK
BOUGHT: Dutch food retailer Royal Ahold bought
the Pathmark supermarket
chain Tuesday, securing a major hold
on the East Coast. Ahold, which owns
the Tops Market, Giant Food
and Stop & Shop chains, gains 132 stores in
New Jersey, New
York City and Philadelphia.
FLUOR JOB CUTS:
Worldwide engineering and construction
giant Fluor said it planned to
reorganize its operations, cutting
5,000 jobs and taking a charge against
earnings. The company has
61,000 employees.
ECUADOR'S WOES:
Ecuador's President Jamil Mahuad declared
a 60-day state of emergency amid a
deep financial crisis and a
looming nationwide strike by powerful
leftist-led unions. Ecuador
ordered banks shut for a second day Tuesday to
prevent a run on
deposits.
AUTO STANDARDS: General Motors and
Ford Motor said they
won't meet federal fuel-efficiency
standards this year because
of strong sales of big pickups and
sport-utility vehicles. The
Corporate Average Fuel Economy law requires that
an automaker's
entire production of passenger vehicles must average 27.5
miles
per gallon.
LENDING BIAS: Discrimination by lenders
against minority-owned
small businesses is bad for the economy, Federal
Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan said. "It harms the lending institutions
and,
ultimately, robs the broader economy of growth potential," he
said.
EXECUTIVE PAY: AlliedSignal CEO Lawrence Bossidy was compensated
$ 14 million in 1998, including a $ 4 million bonus and $ 8.1 million
from realized gains on options. Bossidy, 64, had an additional
4 million
options -- worth $ 112 million at the end of 1998 --
that he has yet to
exercise. Retiring Abbott Laboratories CEO
Duane Burnham received $ 46
million in compensation in 1998,
including $ 38.3 million in realized stock
options and $ 4.4 million
in restricted stock, according to the company
proxy. Boeing's
chief financial officer, Deborah Hopkins, got a $ 750,000
signing
bonus when she joined the company in December.
BUFFETT'S
EARNINGS: Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company
of billionaire investor
Warren Buffett, said its net earnings
rose nearly 50% to $ 2.8 billion in
1998. Buffett's annual letter
to shareholders is scheduled to be posted on
the Internet on March
13.
LOAD-DATE: March 10,
1999 
